US10573534B2 - Rapid heating process in the production of semiconductor components - Google Patents
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- US10573534B2 US10573534B2 US15/433,099 US201715433099A US10573534B2 US 10573534 B2 US10573534 B2 US 10573534B2 US 201715433099 A US201715433099 A US 201715433099A US 10573534 B2 US10573534 B2 US 10573534B2
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- H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
- H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
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- H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
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- H01L21/77—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate
- H01L21/78—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices
- H01L21/82—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components
- H01L21/84—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components the substrate being other than a semiconductor body, e.g. being an insulating body
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Definitions
- the present disclosure relates generally to the field of production of semiconductor components and integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to rapid heating processes, such as laser heating processes, and controlling them in the framework of the production of semiconductor components.
- a plurality of passive circuit elements such as capacitors and resistors, are typically also provided in an integrated circuit, as required by the basic circuitry structure. Due to the smaller dimensions of the circuit elements, not only the performance characteristics of the individual transistor elements are improved, but also their packing density is increased, as a result of which it is possible to incorporate more and more functions into a given chip surface. For this reason, very complex circuits have been developed, which may comprise different types of circuits, such as analog circuits, digital circuits and the like, thereby providing complete systems on a single chip (SoC).
- SoC single chip
- Transistor elements can, in complex integrated circuits, be regarded as essential circuit elements, which determine the overall performance of the semiconductor components.
- transistor elements can, in complex integrated circuits, be regarded as essential circuit elements, which determine the overall performance of the semiconductor components.
- differently doped regions are formed in the semiconductor substrate, on and in which the transistor elements are formed.
- Activation of the dopants is generally affected by way of rapid heating processes (rapid thermal anneal), for example by way of lasers (laser anneal).
- rapid thermal anneal rapid heating processes
- lasers laser anneal
- ultra-shallow junctions are provided in high-performance transistors of a certain class that contact the source/drain regions and extend partly below the gate electrode in the semiconductor substrate.
- LSA laser spike annealing
- Inspection of the heated regions and, in particular, the transition regions of heated and non-heated regions on the wafer is conventionally performed by visual inspection of the wafer after it has been exposed to the heating process or with the aid of measuring its electrical resistance using, for example, 4-point probes. It is, therefore, made use of the fact that the electrical resistance strictly correlates with the heating temperature of the region on the wafer exposed to the heating.
- the visual inspection is disadvantageous because of the time required and the inherent inaccuracy or the subjective moment, respectively.
- the resistance measurement method is disadvantageous in that it is time-consuming and allows only for a limited resolution.
- the present disclosure relates to techniques of semiconductor manufacture using rapid heating processes, such as (rapid) laser heating and flash lamp heating, and to controlling such heating processes in the context of semiconductor manufacture.
- the present disclosure provides techniques in the context of the manufacture of semiconductor components, which comprise laser heating processes, in particular those with a duration of at most a few milliseconds, for example, a maximum of approximately one millisecond, hereinafter referred to as laser spike annealing (LSA).
- LSA laser spike annealing
- methods for monitoring/controlling such heating processes are provided.
- the heating process can heat the heated material to temperatures above 500° C. or 1000° C., for example, to temperatures in the range from approximately 500-1500° C., for example, in the range from 800-1400° C.
- the subject matter disclosed may include irradiating a wafer with a laser beam, detecting reflected light (scattered light and/or reflected light) from the wafer, and creating data based upon this detected light. This created data will be referred to in this specification as “haze data.”
- a method for monitoring a rapid heating process to which a semiconductor wafer is subjected includes performing the heating process for a region of the semiconductor wafer and irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a laser beam. The method further includes detecting light of the laser beam that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer. Moreover, the method includes creating data representing light reflected/scattered from a surface of said semiconductor wafer on the basis of the light detected and determining at least one of heated regions and transition regions between heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer based on the created data. The created data may also be referred as “haze” data as the term haze as used herein may be understood as being light that is reflected and/or scattered from the surface of wafer.
- a method for laser-heating a product semiconductor wafer includes irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a laser of a laser annealing system and adjusting the parameters of the laser annealing system such that a heated region on a production wafer is formed exactly and having a desired shape, where adjusting the parameters is effected on the basis of determining at least one of heated regions and transition regions between heated and non-heated regions of a semiconductor wafer.
- the method includes the steps of performing the heating process for a region of the semiconductor wafer, (subsequently) irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a laser beam, detecting light of the laser beam that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer, establishing haze data (maps) based on the detected light and determining heated (and possibly non-heated) regions, i.e., illuminated by the laser beam, and/or transition regions between heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer on the basis of the haze data.
- the term “haze” refers to light that is reflected/scattered from the surface of the wafer.
- the position and shape of the region affected by laser annealing may be determined with an accuracy that is improved over prior art.
- the exact position of a transition region from a heated to a non-heated region may be determined by changing the signal strength of the haze data, i.e., the created data.
- anneal strips approximately 1-5 anneal strips, for determining the heated and non-heated regions or transition regions, respectively, in order to determine the position and geometric shape of a surface heated on a wafer by a laser anneal process and in order to thus be able to optimize the alignment of the wafer with the laser annealing system.
- the above-mentioned method steps may therefore be performed for a test wafer and product wafers may—based on the results obtained with the test wafer—be subjected to an anneal process with precisely centered and circular heated regions which extend accurately up close to the edge of the circular product wafers.
- the heating process may change the surface properties of the semiconductor wafer, for example, a polysilicon wafer, in such a manner that the detection and analysis of light that is reflected from the surface of the semiconductor wafer may be used for determining the heated regions.
- an optical inspection device may be used for this, which is conventionally used for detecting contamination particles on the surface of semiconductor wafers.
- the semiconductor wafer may be doped to facilitate the detection and analysis of the reflected light. Suitable dopants for this purpose are arsenic, polysilicon and boron, the latter being regarded as particularly suitable.
- Determining the heated regions and, in particular, the transition regions between heated and non-heated regions may, according to the disclosure, be done based on haze data (maps), which may be obtained based on the reflected light.
- the coordinates of haze data maps; i.e., the maps of the created data produced may be used to determine transition regions between heated and non-heated regions.
- the surface roughness, which correlates with the irradiation, may be encoded in a haze data map, as will be described later in more detail.
- Haze data i.e., created data presenting light reflected and/or scattered from the surface of the semiconductor wafer, may here and hereafter be considered to be a measure of the surface roughness, but it may also be possible that the haze data reflects changes in the state of the material, for example, changes in the refractive index.
- the laser beam may be scanned across the region of the semiconductor wafer to be heated and be emitted in a wavelength range of, for example, approximately 100-800 nm, and in particular, may represent a laser beam of light having essentially one wavelength in this range.
- the light beam may be a laser beam generated by a UV laser.
- the method according to the present disclosure has the advantages of higher resolution, for example, below 50 ⁇ m or 25 ⁇ m, significantly higher speed and, avoiding any mechanical load due to the fact that no probe needs to contact the wafer surface.
- the higher resolution may be achieved by using the haze data (maps). Due to the higher resolutions, better repeatability on different systems may be achieved, as well as better control of overlay errors. Repeatability of inevitable overlay errors generated by LSA systems may be improved and the dispersion of such errors (especially among different LSA systems) may be reduced.
- a region of a production wafer being affected by laser annealing may therefore be mapped centered and formed having a round shape.
- performing the heating process may include irradiating the region of the semiconductor wafer with a laser, where, in particular, the heating is effected in the form of laser spike annealing, in which heating may occur within a time period of a few milliseconds or a maximum of one millisecond.
- a further illustrative embodiment may include determining the geometric shape and position of a surface of the semiconductor wafer heated by the heating process on the basis of the detected light that is reflected by the semiconductor wafer.
- the geometric shape and the position of a laser-generated exposure surface may therewith be determined should a laser be used for the heating process. Centering and adjusting the geometric shape may thereby be achieved.
- detecting light that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer may comprise detecting light that is reflected prior to the heating process from the semiconductor wafer due to a first irradiation, and detecting light that is reflected after the heating process from the semiconductor wafer due to a second irradiation. Analysis of the reflected light may then comprise a comparison of the light detected prior to heating to the light detected after heating.
- the surface roughness of the semiconductor wafer may be determined on the basis of the detected light that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer, where the determination of the heated (and possibly non-heated) regions of the semiconductor wafer is based on the determined surface roughness. It may there be taken advantage of the fact that the surface roughness of the semiconductor wafer correlates with the temperature of the heating process and a magnitude for the surface roughness may therefore be obtained from the detected light.
- the surface roughness may be encoded in a haze data map, and the heated (and possibly non-heated) regions of the semiconductor wafer may be determined based on the haze data map.
- a haze signal i.e., a signal from light reflected/scattered from a surface
- mapping of the examined wafer region may be performed by use of the haze signals.
- “Haze” may there be defined as a decrease in the surface smoothness as compared to an ideally smooth surface. Visually, a wafer with a large average haze, i.e., with a large average amount of light reflected/scattered from the surface, is rather dull while a wafer with a small average haze, i.e., with a small average amount of light reflected/scattered from the surface, is rather shiny.
- the haze data map may be conditioned such that the data is cleaned from background noise, which is due to a natural roughness of an untreated semiconductor wafer. Haze that is caused by the natural roughness may be predetermined and filtered out from the data of the reflected light obtained. As already mentioned, however, the haze data determined from the reflected light may also represent changes in the state of the material, for example, changes in the refractive index.
- non-uniformities of an edge region of the semiconductor wafer irradiated by the laser beam and/or non-uniformities within an edge region of a scan strip of the laser beam and/or non-uniformities in the distances of adjacent scan strips of the laser beam may be determined by means of the haze data maps.
- the heating process for the region of the semiconductor wafer may be performed at a first temperature and subsequently a further heating process may be performed at least in a partial region of the region of the semiconductor wafer at a second temperature, where the second temperature is lower or higher than the first temperature. It has been found that the signal spacing in the haze data in the transition region from a heated region to a non-heated region may, due to the double heating process, be significantly improved, and determining the heated region may be improved on the basis of the haze data.
- the laser beam in a strip, an anneal strip arises
- the laser beam may be scanned along a first line extending across the wafer in a first direction and crossing the region for which the heating process is carried out. It may thereby be possible to differentiate between heated and non-heated regions along the line.
- the laser beam may be scanned along a second line, which extends across the wafer in a second direction, which is perpendicular to the first direction and which crosses the region for which the heating process is carried out.
- the detection of the light that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer may comprise the generation of detection signals with signal amplitudes, and the heated (and possibly non-heated) regions of the semiconductor wafer may be detected only on the basis of such detection signals where the amplitude of which is below a predetermined amplitude limit, wherein, in particular, detection signals with amplitudes above the predetermined amplitude limit indicate contaminations of the semiconductor wafer with dirt particles.
- a rather low-frequency range of the detected spectrum may be used for determining the heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer, respectively, whereas a rather high-frequency region of the spectrum may be evidence for the presence of dirt particles on the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
- heating processes may be performed with other production wafers to be processed.
- a method for manufacturing a semiconductor component includes providing a semiconductor wafer and forming a layer of the semiconductor component in at least one of the wafer and on a surface of the semiconductor wafer.
- the method further includes heating a region of the layer in a rapid heating process and irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a laser beam.
- the method includes detecting light of the laser beam that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer and creating data on the basis of the light detected, wherein the data represent light reflected/scattered from the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
- the method includes determining heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer based on the established created data and adjusting the heating process, if the particular heated and non-heated regions do not meet predetermined criteria, such that at least one of the geometric shape and centering of a surface irradiated by the laser on the semiconductor wafer is controlled in a desired manner.
- the semiconductor wafer may comprise a SOI (silicon-on-insulator or semiconductor-on-insulator) or FDSOI (fully depleted SOI) semiconductor substrate that is composed of a semiconductor substrate, a buried insulating layer formed thereon, such as a buried oxide layer, and a semiconductor layer formed thereon.
- the semiconductor component may comprise a transistor component, for example, a FET, MOSFET, and forming the layer may include forming a doped layer of a transistor component and heating the region of the layer may include activating dopants of the doped layer.
- the doped layer may be formed in a semiconductor layer of the semiconductor wafer. The heating may again be done in the form of a laser spike annealing.
- Adjusting the heating process may include changing at least one of the shape and the position of a surface on the semiconductor wafer irradiated by a laser for heating. This may be effected by way of a respective modification/adaptation of an optical system used for guiding the laser beam.
- a further illustrative embodiment may include determining the contamination of the semiconductor wafer with contamination particles based on the detected light that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer. Firstly, findings about the contamination of the semiconductor wafer and, secondly, about the heated regions may be gained from the same spectrum of the reflected light obtained. The signal values above a predetermined limit may be used for particle detection and below the predetermined limit the values may be used for determining the heated regions.
- FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method of the present disclosure
- FIG. 2 shows an exemplary device for rapid local laser heating of a region of a semiconductor wafer
- FIG. 3 shows an exemplary device for detecting and analyzing light that is reflected from an irradiated semiconductor wafer
- FIG. 4 shows a wafer irradiated according to an exemplary recipe which has heated regions and non-heated regions that can be precisely determined using haze data maps.
- the present methods are applicable to several technologies, such as NMOS, PMOS, CMOS, etc., and are applicable to various components including, but not limited to, logic components, memory devices, etc.
- the present disclosure provides methods for monitoring/controlling heating processes in the manufacture of semiconductors and methods for manufacturing semiconductor components by use of heating processes.
- the surface of a semiconductor wafer treated in a heating process is analyzed by way of detected light that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer after irradiation of the latter.
- FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a method according to the disclosure in the form of a flow diagram.
- a semiconductor wafer is locally subjected to a rapid heating process 10 .
- the rapid heating process may be laser spike annealing.
- the wafer may comprise a semiconductor substrate over which a semiconductor layer is formed.
- a buried insulating layer may be provided between the semiconductor layer and the substrate, thereby providing an SOI configuration.
- the substrate and the semiconductor layer may each be made of material containing silicon in which other components, such as germanium, carbon and the like, may be incorporated to provide desired electronic properties.
- the surface of the semiconductor wafer is irradiated 20 with light.
- Irradiation is effected, for example, by laser scanning, for example, with monochromatic light having a wavelength in the range from 100-800 nm.
- Irradiation 20 may be effected by use of an optical measuring device comprising a light source, for example, in the form of a laser, and a detection device for detecting reflected light.
- the light emitted from the surface of the irradiated semiconductor wafer is detected 30 and analyzed.
- the heating process may thus be controlled 40 on the basis of the emitted light that is detected. It is, therefore, essential that the light emitted contains information about the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
- the detected light may be converted to contain information on the roughness of the surface of the semiconductor wafer. Since, for example, the roughness correlates with the temperature of the heating process, heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer may thus be determined on the basis of the signals.
- the regions which have been heated during the heating process may have a larger haze i.e., a larger amount of light reflected/scattered from the surface of the semiconductor wafer (for example a higher roughness) than those regions which have not been heated.
- the term “haze” is representing light reflected and/or scattered from a surface of said semiconductor wafer.
- Undesired non-uniform heating of a target region, any defocusing or geometric deformation of a heated region of a wafer, etc. may thus be detected by use of the data of the detected light that is reflected (for example, from data of a haze map, i.e. a map representing light reflected/scattered from the surface of the semiconductor wafer, created for an examined region of the semiconductor wafer) (for haze mapping see, for example, WO 2004/105087).
- the haze data may also reflect properties other than the surface roughness, for example, changes in state of the material, for example, changes in the refractive index.
- the annealing process for the production wafers may be adjusted by way of a corresponding adjustment of the parameters of a laser annealing system in such a way that a heated region on the production wafer may be formed precisely and having the desired shape.
- a well-controlled annealing process may thus be performed in the production process.
- the annealing process may serve to activate dopants in the framework of manufacturing a semiconductor component on and in the semiconductor wafer. For example, it may serve to form halo regions, deep source/drain regions and/or ultra-shallow junctions in the production of (MOS) FETs.
- FIG. 2 shows an exemplary device for rapid local laser heating of a region of a semiconductor wafer that may be employed in the method according to the disclosure.
- the device shown in FIG. 2 may be used for performing step 10 shown in FIG. 1 .
- the device comprises a movable stage 100 with a wafer holder 110 , for example a hot chuck, for holding a semiconductor wafer 120 to be locally subjected to the heating process.
- Heating may be effected by way of a laser 130 , for example, a CO 2 laser.
- the light emitted from laser 130 is via an optical system 140 directed onto the semiconductor wafer 120 .
- Light emitted from the semiconductor wafer 120 may be detected with a detector 150 .
- the detector 150 may be connected to a processing device 160 which, on the basis of the data delivered by the detector 150 , may determine a temperature of the region of the semiconductor wafer 120 irradiated by the laser 130 and supply data about the specific temperature to a control device 170 .
- the control device 170 may control the laser 130 in a feedback manner based on the data regarding the specific temperature obtained from the processing device 160 .
- FIG. 3 shows a measuring device which may be used in embodiments according to the disclosure.
- the measuring device shown in FIG. 3 may be used for performing steps 20 , 30 and 40 shown in FIG. 1 .
- the measuring device may comprise a stage 200 with a wafer holder 210 for holding a semiconductor wafer 220 to be examined.
- a laser beam L may, with the aid of an optical system (not shown), be directed onto the semiconductor wafer 220 .
- the laser beam L may be guided so as to strike the surface of the semiconductor wafer 220 perpendicularly)(90°), or it may be guided to strike the surface of the semiconductor wafer 220 at a finite oblique angle between 0° and 90°.
- the measuring device may further comprise a lens collector 230 for collecting light that is reflected from the surface of the semiconductor wafer 220 .
- a lens collector 230 for collecting light that is reflected from the surface of the semiconductor wafer 220 .
- an elliptical collector may be provided above the semiconductor wafer 220 and surrounding the lens collector 230 .
- the reflected light collected by the lens collector 230 passes through apertures 240 and an optional polarizer to a detector 250 .
- the detector 250 may be a dark field collector.
- the detector 250 may be connected to a data processing device 260 which may process the data provided by the detector 250 for analysis and enable performing step 40 shown in FIG. 1 . Based on the data provided by the detector 250 , haze data maps may be created with the aid of the data processing device 260 and heated regions of the semiconductor wafer 220 may be determined.
- a line scan may be performed along a previously defined line (i.e., the data of the haze data map may be read out along the predetermined line), and the data of the line scan (haze level along the line) may be used to determine heated and non-heated regions or transition regions between heated and non-heated regions, respectively.
- the distance of a heated region from the edge may be accurately determined.
- one or more anneal strips may be created by the laser on the wafer and the line scan may be performed both along as well as perpendicular to the strip or strips.
- arc-shaped anneal strips may be created by the laser at edge regions of the wafer and the line scan may as well be performed both along as well as perpendicular to the strips.
- a low-pass filter may be used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio.
- a conventional particle measuring device such as the KLA Surfscan® SP3 or KLA SURFmonitor, may be used to create the haze map data.
- FIG. 4 by way of illustration shows a wafer irradiated according to one exemplary recipe and comprising heated regions B that comprise arc-shaped heated regions and horizontal strips, and non-heated regions U (or the transitions between them) which may by way of haze data maps be accurately determined.
- the above-mentioned line scans may be performed along vertical and horizontal lines extending between markings M.
- Adjustment of a laser annealing system may be effected on the basis of the findings with respect to the exact position of irradiated regions B obtained via the irradiated wafer shown.
- a double annealing process may be performed in each or in some anneal strips.
- a first annealing process may be performed at a first temperature, for example at approximately 1100° C.
- a second annealing process may be performed within the strip thus formed at a second temperature, for example, at approximately 1230° C.
- the first annealing process may be performed at a higher temperature than the second one.
- the double annealing process may achieve larger signal spacing of the haze measurement data in transition regions between heated regions B and non-heated regions U (i.e., the haze data values of heated regions B are more distinct from the haze data values of non-heated regions U), whereby determining the exact position of these transition regions may further be improved.
Abstract
Description
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DE102016202239.3A DE102016202239B3 (en) | 2016-02-15 | 2016-02-15 | Fast heating process in the manufacture of semiconductor devices |
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CN112038223A (en) * | 2020-08-27 | 2020-12-04 | 上海华力集成电路制造有限公司 | Method for improving wafer surface heat distribution in double-laser annealing process |
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US8269960B2 (en) * | 2008-07-24 | 2012-09-18 | Kla-Tencor Corp. | Computer-implemented methods for inspecting and/or classifying a wafer |
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US7038773B2 (en) * | 2003-05-19 | 2006-05-02 | Kla-Tencor Technologies Corporation | Apparatus and methods for enabling robust separation between signals of interest and noise |
US8284394B2 (en) * | 2006-02-09 | 2012-10-09 | Kla-Tencor Technologies Corp. | Methods and systems for determining a characteristic of a wafer |
US8422010B2 (en) * | 2006-02-09 | 2013-04-16 | Kla-Tencor Technologies Corp. | Methods and systems for determining a characteristic of a wafer |
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US8494802B2 (en) * | 2008-06-19 | 2013-07-23 | Kla-Tencor Corp. | Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and systems for determining one or more characteristics of a wafer |
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